Pharma can power intra-BRICS trade

Jun 23, 2015

Elena Krovvidi

RIR

BP Singh, General Director of Coralmed Group. Source: Press Photo

Coralmed pharmaceutical company plans to expand its operations and drive growth within Russia by local repackaging of its products, followed by complete technology transfer to local manufacturers, said BP Singh, General Director of the company, in an interview to RIR.

How do you assess the state of the
Russian pharmaceutical market at the moment? Last time we talked it was a time
before the economic crisis. Have you noticed changes because of the Western
sanctions and ruble devaluation?

“The Russian pharmaceutical industry is
always a lucrative and attractive market, despite the economic recession in the
country and devaluation of national currency, caused by sanctions. We observe
that the current boom is mainly due to successful implementation of the existing
state strategy.”

“Of the development of Russian
pharmaceutical industry until 2020, this has resulted in the establishment of
production of up to 60 per cent of drugs from the list of vital life-saving
drugs within the country.”

Has your company been affected by the
crisis? What measures are you taking to undo the damage inflicted by the
recession?

“It has affected us in short term liquidity
but we are taking this crisis very positively and even perceiving that this
crisis will open many new opportunities and doors for our company as well as
for the bilateral relations between India and Russia.”

“As our business partner like Simpex
Pharma, Panacea Biotec Ltd and Lupin India are coming forward to make a long
term strategy in supporting state program of Pharma 2020. We are confident that
the foreign technology is making inroads, both through joint ventures with the
participation of international pharmaceuticals majors and through Russian
producers applying foreign expertise in local production.”

It has been said a lot that Indian
medicines had high chances of replacing Western medicines. But, according
to statistics, Western medicines still remain much more popular than Indian ones even despite their higher cost. Why is this so?
What can be done to change this situation?

“We always believe in the top quality and
innovation, and our company’s motive is to give the best quality medicine to
the citizens of Russia at affordable costs.”

“To take advantage of the growing Russian
pharmaceutical market, several pharmaceutical majors are investing in
Greenfield manufacturing projects in Russia, and Indian companies are coming
forward with local manufacturing (in Russia) and are investing in domestic
Research & Development to develop complex medicinal molecules locally,
especially in the sphere of life-saving drugs.”

“And this gives confidence to us and to the
local partners to join hands together in developing new drugs with the best
quality in the domestic R&D with the support of Pharma 2020 program.”

The pharmaceutical industry is believed to
be one of the top industries of the Indo-Russian cooperation. There is Pharma-2020 programme and pharma industry is one of widely discussed topics at the major international platforms like Indo-Russian business forums and BRICS forums. But Indian medicines occupy only 13% of the Russian pharmaceutical market. How can this be explained? What are the barriers to the development of the Indo-Russian pharmaceutical cooperation?

“We have initiated many steps in coordination
with the state program Pharma 2020 starting with repackaging of our medicines
in Russia especially in the field of anti-tuberculosis, and we plan to have a
100% local manufacturing in the future. And our partners are coming with a long
term strategy in different stages of collaboration.”

What do you expect from the
upcoming SCO and BRICS forums? Will they give an impetus to a
stronger bilateral cooperation, in particular, in the pharma industry?

“The Russian pharmaceutical market is
continuously growing for the last five years and shares strong growth prospects
with the other BRICS countries; its manufacturing base is not as developed as
fellow BRICS countries, such as India and China, which have a domestic
manufacturing base. So, BRICS forum plays a vital role in technology sharing to
develop the indigenous Russian pharmaceutical industry, through joint ventures
and technology know-how transfer. Pharmaceutical joint ventures help to boost
the bilateral trade between the BRICS countries and will open vast
opportunities in this line for all the five into this complicated political
set-up of the world.”

What are your company's
plans for the future?

“For our company the growth driven area is
local repackaging in first phase with our key brands and to follow up with
complete sharing of technology Know How with local manufacturing.”

“We are very confident about our long term
business plan and trust our reliable Business partners. In Russia historically,
India and Russia have a long-time close political and economic relationship and
time-tested friendship. With the support and positive attitude to develop the
lives of people in both the counties, we are definitely going to move forward
in not only cementing the partnership in trade but also solidifying our trade
traditional friendship.”